Main navigation

Recipe for Canned Tuna and Tomato Salad with Sunflower Seeds

This salad is a great Phase One lunch with a lot of my favorite flavors!

Since we're working our way through a Month of Daily Phase One recipes, it seemed like a good time for me to update this favorite lunch salad of mine, which was lounging around in the recipe archives without a single photo since 2005. I've made it plenty of times since then, even improving on the original recipe a bit, and finally got around to snapping a few pictures! As I made this I thought about the name of the salad, realizing that when it comes out of a can I used to call it "tuna fish" but now I call it "canned tuna." For this salad I use my favorite tuna packed in olive oil, Cherubs salad tomatoes from Costco, and dry-roasted sunflower seeds, and it's something I'd happily eat for lunch most any day.

No matter what kind of tuna (or tuna fish!) you use, make sure it's well drained before you mix it with the other ingredients.

I prefer Romaine lettuce for this, torn apart and washed in a salad spinner.

I just cut the tomatoes in half, but you can cut them smaller if you prefer.

Through the years I've decided that some chopped capers and thinly sliced green onions are a great addition to the tuna mixture.

Mix together Ranch Dressing and your favorite vinaigrette to make the dressing.

After the tuna has drained, mix it with 3 T of the dressing, chopped capers, and sliced green onion.

Toss the lettuce with enough dressing to moisten it, then toss with the tuna mixture.

Put the salad in a serving bowl and top with tomatoes and sunflower seeds.

Tuna Fish and Tomato Salad with Sunflower Seeds
(makes 2-4 servings, depending on what else is served with it)

Put the tuna in a small strainer and let it drain well while you prep the other ingredients. Tear lettuce, wash well in salad spinner and spin until dry (or dry with paper towels if you don't have a salad spinner). Cut the tomatoes, chop capers, and thinly slice green onions.

Mix ranch and vinaigrette dressing. Put the drained tuna into a small bowl, and mix about 3 tablespoons of the dressing into the tuna, then mix in capers and green onions.

Put the washed and dried lettuce into a large salad bowl and toss with enough dressing to moisten the lettuce. (You may not need all the dressing.) Add tuna mixture and toss with the lettuce. Add tomatoes and sunflower seeds to the top of the salad and serve.

If you're making this to take for lunches, mix the tuna, dressing, capers, and green onions and keep the mixture in the fridge. Don't toss the rest of the salad together until right before you eat it. The tuna mixture will stay good in the fridge for close to a week.

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

15 comments:

I thought this recipe with the tomatoes was the perfect opportunity to rub it in that I'm already harvesting tomatoes from my garden. We may have traffic in LA, but we also have tomatoes very early. :)

Oh, this looks great! And canned tuna in oil is something I usually forget to buy, along with the tuna in water. Capers are so good with tuna, and I'm delighted you included them. And the sunflower seeds are inspired - can't wait to make this! Many thanks,

This looks so good....love the idea of combining the 2 dressings. I have a friend who visits from Italy several times a year, and keeps me well stocked with their canned tuna which is packed in EVOO. I'll be trying this this weekend.Thanks Kalyn!

I made this tonight simply because I wanted something fast. I was feeling like a no effort night and this came very close with just a little prep. I added a can of chickpeas. I really loved this!!!! Will definitely make again. Even discovered that my 3-year-old likes chickpeas! :-) Mommy score!

Good morning! I have featured this recipe on my blog today for my weekly seafood round-up and have linked this recipe to your original post so that my readers will be forwarded to your site. Thank you for allowing me to share! Here is the link: http://carriesexperimentalkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/09/seafood-frenzy-friday-week-36.html

I'm so happy you're taking the time to comment on Kalyn's Kitchen! I love hearing from people who stop by, especially if you're sharing feedback or asking questions about a recipe I've posted here.

I've recently changed my comment settings so people can comment without signing in, but you will need to check the box to show you're a live person, and comments on older posts won't show up until I publish them. Thanks for understanding!

And if you really like the recipe, Pins, Shares, Tweets, and Yums are always appreciated!

Food Blogger Love!

Copyright Notice

All Photos and Original Text (C) Copyright: 2005-2016, By Kalyn's Kitchen® LLC. I grant permission for photos and recipe links to be copied to Pinterest and other social media sites, but not recipe text. All Other Rights Reserved. (Other bloggers may post their adapted version of a recipe found here, with their own photos and recipe text, but please link back to the inspiring recipe on this site.)

Kalyn's Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.